|
Virginia’s Nutrient Pollution Cleanup Approach
Since the signing of the first Chesapeake Bay Agreement
in 1983, Virginia has acknowledged that our waters are
literally being choked to death by nitrogen and phosphorus
pollution. The scientific endeavor has been exhaustive
and river-specific cleanup strategies for each of Virginia’s
major rivers are nearing completion
Now, more than twenty years later, it is critical that
Virginia legislators whole-heartedly embrace the Commonwealth’s
commitments to protect our waters and create a funding
mechanism that will generate a significant, predictable
and dedicated source of revenue to fulfill our legal and
moral obligations to protect and restore our waters.
For decades scientists have documented the devastating
effects of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution on Virginia’s
rivers, streams and the Chesapeake Bay. Voluntary initiatives
(financial incentives) have resulted in measurable progress
in reducing nitrogen and phosphorus pollution from both
point sources (sewage treatment plants and industrial
sources) and nonpoint sources (agricultural runoff). Unfortunately,
the progress has been far from adequate.
The rules of the cleanup process changed significantly
in 1998 when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
included Virginia’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay and
the tidal portions of the major rivers on the federal
Impaired Waters List (AKA “Dirty Waters List”). Sadly,
this vast expanse of water no longer meets the fundamental
requirements for healthy water and living resources. The
cause of the impairment is excessive nitrogen and phosphorus
pollution. Virginia is now under a federal mandate to
reduce pollution sufficient to remove our waters from
the list.
The Bottom Line - Virginia must reduce annual nitrogen
pollution by 28 million pounds and annual phosphorus pollution
by more than 3 ½ million pounds – approximately
twice the level of reductions that we have achieved over
the last 20 years.
It has become painfully apparent that voluntary initiatives
alone will not get the job done. Numerous initiatives
are underway in Virginia (both voluntary and mandatory)
to reduce the amount of nutrient pollution entering Virginia’s
waters.
Voluntary Initiatives - - Virginia’s
“Tributary Strategies” are the roadmaps that define the
specific actions necessary to meet our nutrient pollution
cleanup goals for each of Virginia’s major rivers. Virginia’s
state agencies and large numbers of other stakeholders
worked aggressively for 6 months in early 2004 to develop
each strategy. While they include specific actions to
reduce pollution from sewage treatment plants, industrial
facilities, farm and urban run-off, they are voluntary
and cooperative by nature, with no enforcement or funding
mechanisms. Final strategies, including revised costs
estimates for implementation, are due to be released by
the end of 2004.
Regulatory Requirements - - Two separate
regulatory processes are currently under development in
Virginia that will ensure significant and permanent pollution
reductions from sewage treatment plants and industrial
facilities. The regulations cited below are in draft form
to be released for public comment in 2004. Finalization
is anticipated for early 2005.
Water Quality Standards- - Virginia’s
newly proposed water quality standards (WQS) set minimum
numeric values that must be maintained for three critical
indicators of water quality health – dissolved oxygen,
water clarity and chlorophyll-a (an indicator of algae
abundance). Thsee draft standards that will undergo additional
public input before being finalized in mid 2005. The standards
are designed to: 1) provide adequate oxygen for healthy
fish, shellfish and crab populations, 2) improve water
clarity to aid in underwater grass restoration, and 3)
diminish algae blooms that cloud water, depress oxygen
levels and, in some cases, endanger human health.
To comply with the new standards, Virginia will have
to, at a minimum, achieve the 28 million pound nitrogen
reduction and 3 ½ million pound phosphorus reduction
adopted by the Governor. But, the standards only define
the endpoint, they do not spell out where the nutrient
reductions should come from.
Technology-Based Permit Limits for Point Source
Dischargers - - In December of 2003, Governor
Warner reconfirmed his commitment to improving water quality
by directing the Department of Environmental Quality to
develop regulations defining stringent, yet achievable,
nutrient reductions from sewage treatment plants and industrial
facilities. The new nutrient permit limits for these facilities
would be set according to what could be achieved through
available technologies. The numeric nutrient limits will
be defined through the revision of an already existing
but outdated regulation – Nutrient Enriched Waters Policy
(NEW).
As proposed, the revised NEW policy would set the maximum
allowable concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus that
could be discharged - 8 mg/L and 1 mg/L respectively.
For the interim, until the water quality standards are
finalized, these minimum interim limits will apply to
dischargers into the James and York Rivers. Virginia’s
other tributaries, however, will require more stringent
levels of treatment. Facilities discharging to the Rappahannock,
Shenandoah, Potomac or Eastern Shore waters will be required
to achieve nitrogen and phosphorus levels of 4 mg/L and
0.3 mg/L respectively. Dischargers into the lower Potomac
River will be required to reduce nitrogen levels even
further to 3 mg/L and phosphorus to 0.3 mg/L.
In addition, yet another regulation is proposed that
in combination with the NEW policy will complete the Governor’s
Technology-Based initiative. The Water Quality Management
Planning regulation applies the concentration limits imposed
by the NEW Policy and assigns an allowable yearly nitrogen
and phosphorus load (in pounds) to each sewage treatment
plant and industrial discharger. The load is calculated
based on the NEW concentration limit and the designed
flow capacity (in millions of gallons per day) for each
facility. These “load caps” or “allocations” ensure that
nutrient reductions will be maintained as population growth
(and wastewater flows) increases.
Virginia’s conservation community must strongly unify
in support of significantly increased, predictable and
dedicated funding for water quality improvements. It is
estimated to cost $600 Million to $1.2 Billion to improve
Virginia’s sewage treatment plants sufficiently to comply
with the new regulatory requirements and fulfill Virginia’s
cleanup commitments. In addition, it is anticipated that
the regulated community will fiercely oppose the forthcoming
regulations – strong future public support for the Administration’s
efforts will be critical.
Contact: Jeff Corbin – Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Virginia
Senior Scientist at 804-780-1392
|
